TY - JOUR
T1 - Facilitating university education
T2 - A view from the North
AU - Wiewiura, Joachim S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© SAGE Publications.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/4
Y1 - 2016/4
N2 - In this small essay, I will reflect on Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth's arguments on the decline of educational professionalism in the United States. The purpose is to consider this loss of professionalism, and I will consider it in light of the arts and humanities in the Danish educational debate. Two reflections are presented: first, the customer relation is reversed in a Scandinavian context where students are politically demanded products rather than informed customers. This implies that universities' output serve political agendas. Second, I suggest that the Scandinavian conception of equality in welfare might entail an inexpedient side-effect when it comes to education. Equality becomes alignment rather than educative edification of individual and, in consequence, communal autonomy. This jeopardises the historically fruitful role of the Scandinavian university - and ultimately caters to a shift from edification to serving interests that are beyond the professional heart of arts and humanities in higher education.
AB - In this small essay, I will reflect on Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth's arguments on the decline of educational professionalism in the United States. The purpose is to consider this loss of professionalism, and I will consider it in light of the arts and humanities in the Danish educational debate. Two reflections are presented: first, the customer relation is reversed in a Scandinavian context where students are politically demanded products rather than informed customers. This implies that universities' output serve political agendas. Second, I suggest that the Scandinavian conception of equality in welfare might entail an inexpedient side-effect when it comes to education. Equality becomes alignment rather than educative edification of individual and, in consequence, communal autonomy. This jeopardises the historically fruitful role of the Scandinavian university - and ultimately caters to a shift from edification to serving interests that are beyond the professional heart of arts and humanities in higher education.
KW - Differentiation
KW - educational professionalism
KW - equality
KW - excellence
KW - instability
KW - university
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964497645&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1474022216634700
DO - 10.1177/1474022216634700
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84964497645
SN - 1474-0222
VL - 15
SP - 223
EP - 230
JO - Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
JF - Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
IS - 2
ER -